Growing Up
by Hikari of the Moon
Summary: Stan, Koji, and a friend grow up together. From preschool to postOban, see their lives change. [StanKoji][OneShot]


Dedicated to my new (pretend) fiancé, **Shadowgate31**! Also for everyone out there who has seen the Stan/Koji in the show and for everyone who will be inspired by this and write your own Stan/Koji.

It is assumed that Koji and Stan are nineteen during the show. They're a different age in each segment; their age is the underlined word. Three happen when they're 19 so their location is also underlined for those.

Disclaimer: The person who owns Oban Star-Racers is a guy. I am not. Therefore, I do not own it. I do, however, own Eal, so don't steal him!  
**Warning: Slash! Aka boys-romantically-with-boys!** Don't like, don't read, don't complain! **AND spoilers for the end of the series! **Haven't seen it all and don't want it spoiled? Don't read yet!

* * *

Four

"Stan, dear, you need to go in!" A mother scolded her four year old child, who wouldn't leave her to go to his daycare.

"I dun wanna! I dun know 'neebody!" He whined through sobs.

Another mother left the school room and shared a sympathetic glance with Stan's mother. "Your son not want to go in?" She asked. Stan's flustered mother nodded. "Why don't you go in the room with him?"

Stan's mother blushed, embarrassed that she hadn't thought of that, and walked him in. Literally. He was clinging to her leg. A red haired boy sat next to the door, and when they walked in, he waved at them. "Hi people!" He yelled. Stan looked at him and sniffed. The boy looked back.

"Mommy? Can I talk to him?" Stan asked. His mother nodded. Stan let go of her leg and walked to the red-head. "I'm Stan!"

"I'm Eal! Wanna go play with the train?"

Stan nodded and they started to run to the toy train. But he noticed another kid hiding under the table. Stan stopped and dropped to his hands and knees then crawled under the table. "I'm Stan. You want to play with me and Eal?"

The other child sniffed, stopping his tears. "Mommy went away," He cried.

"My mommy said she come back later. If your mommy doesn't, you can come home with me!"

"Okay." He put his thumb in his mouth and reached out with the other hand. Stan grabbed it and smiled. "I'm Koji." He said around his thumb.

Stan helped Koji out from under the table and found himself standing in front of Eal. "Eal! This is Koji. Can he play with us?"

"Yeah!"

The three boys ran to the train, Eal leading the pack and Stan holding Koji's hand.

--------

Eight

Eal laughed. "No way!"

Stan smiled. "Way!"

Koji giggled. "How cool is that?"

The three boy were sitting in Koji's bedroom, having a sleepover. "Very!"

"They're really letting us go with you this summer?" Eal shouted, bouncing in his seat.

"YEAH!" Stan yelled. He stood and started jumping up and down on his bed. His friends climbed out of their chairs and joined him in bouncing on the bed.

"This is so awesome!" Koji said, grabbed his friends' hands. "It'll be great!"

"Yeah! We'll go see the star-races and go to water parks and hang out and it'll be just the three of us! ...And my parents!"

"BOYS! WHAT'RE YOU DOING?" Stan's dad yelled up from the living room.

The boys collapsed in a heap on the bed and broke out into giggles. "NOTHING!" All three yelled.

"Best friends for life?" Koji asked.

"Best friends for life!" Stan replied.

"And forever after!" Eal added.

Stan and Koji nodded and said in unison, "And forever after!"

--------

Thirteen

"KOJI! COME ON! I'M WAITING!" Stan yelled up at one of his two best friend's window.

"Stan! Would you rather I go without a shirt and pants?" Koji yelled out his open window.

Stan blushed faintly. 'Yes, actually,' he thought. You see, Stan had a slight attraction to his gentle friend. He was embarrassed by it though and didn't act on it. A few minutes later, Koji came out the front door, dressed simply in a button-down shirt and slacks. "What's the rush?" Koji asked with a smile.

"Oh nothing, except it's Eal's karate tournament and we might be late." Stan said.

Koji's normally pale face got even whiter. "Oh no. Oh no no no no _no!_"

Stan and Koji ran as fast as they could, but still arrived during the opening ceremonies. They snuck into some seats at the end of a row and tried to look like they'd been there the whole time.

Eal's glare made them realized he'd noticed. The sobbing opponent after his first match plus the firey look and smirk he sent the crowd had them worrying for their lives.

-

"I _won_!" Eal shouted joyously. He held the trophy up to his two best friends. His tone changed suddenly from happy to mad. "And you two didn't even have the decency to show up on time! I showed up to your scholastic decathlon finals ten minutes early, Koji! And Stan, I was at your play a whole _hour_ early on opening night! And the one time I have a big event, you show up five minutes LATE!" He glared at them. "What do you have to say for yourselves?"

"I'm sorry, Eal. I had to get dressed." Koji said.

"Ooooh!" He changed back to being happy. "And why did you need to get dressed, hmm? A certain someone get your shirt off perhaps?"

Eal winked at Stan, who snapped, "Shut it." He had told Eal that he felt more toward Koji than just friendship a few months ago and Eal had never let it die. "Unless you want that trophy three feet down your throat."

Koji stepped between them. "How about we take you out for ice cream, Eal? To celebrate."

"Oh yeah!" He stuck a pose then grabbed Stan and Koji's arms. "To the ice cream parlor!"

Laughing, Stan and Koji let Eal drag them off.

--------

Sixteen

"We are gathered here today to honor a brave young man. He gave his life defending our planet from the evil Crogs and will be sorely missed."

Stan barely heard the preacher's words as he continued on. Tears streamed down his face. Koji held his sobbing form, but he couldn't even be bothered to enjoy being in his crush's arms. He listened to the surrounding people cry as well, but no one was as tormented as Stan and Koji were, save the married couple in the front row who had just lost their son.

"Eal Luciole will be remembered forever."

-

Koji walked Stan to the grave after the funeral service was over. Stan knelt down on the cold ground next to the grave. Koji got down on one knee next to him and let loose his own tears. "We'll miss you, Eal." Koji whispered.

"You'll be with us forever. In spirit." He laid a bouquet of flowers down in front of the stone. There was no body in the coffin, they hadn't been able to find it, but his death had witnesses that proved the Crogs had killed him.

"You were just trying to save some kids."

"Those damn Crogs." Stan stood. "We won't forget what they did, Eal. We'll get them back somehow."

Koji got up and stood next to him. "Remember his grandfather?"

"Miguel?"

"Yeah. He wanted us to work for him, remember? Help him build a star-racer. Eal wanted us to help too."

Stan nodded, understanding.

--------

Nineteen: Earth 

Stan leaned against the Arrow Two. Koji stood in between the two, his hands shoved in the pockets of his jacket to save them from the crisp fall air. Don Wei, the famous race manager, had come into the hanger and said he was requisitioning the star-racers they had spent the past two years building. Their boss, Miguel, was not happy about it. And wasn't afraid to show it.

"There will be no requisition!" Miguel yelled, "The Arrow One and Two are prototypes! They're not for racing, do you hear me? With you they'll end up scrap metal!" The young adults noticed Don Wei had looked back and nodded to the two burly-looking men while Miguel continued. "I won't allow it! Not in a million years! Now get out!" The men stepped forward. One of them lifted a briefcase and opened it to show the contents to the man.

"I'll also need your mechanics, Stan and Koji."

Stan looked back at Koji, who just barely shrugged. This was news to both of them.

"Impossible! Stan is my right arm and Koji is my left!" Miguel yelled.

Don Wei motioned slightly with his head and the other opened his briefcase. Miguel looked back and forth between the two. "Precisely," Don Wei said. "It's a matter of utmost importance."

Miguel sighed happily and held up the palms of his hands. "Then my arms are your arms."

Koji pulled his hands out of his pockets and pumped his arms in an excited gesture. He couldn't keep a squeak of joy from leaving him. "Yes!"

Stan smiled too. Whatever they were needed for, it was important. And coming from this serious man, they knew it was huge. Realizing he'd zoned out Don Wei, but knowing what he said, he showed the troop of mechanics how the Arrows worked. He couldn't help noticing the lone girl kept looking back at the manager, who was talking to their boss. _Ex-_boss now.

When the troop left and the two climbed into the limo Don Wei was using, he briefed them on the Great Race. They both were ecstatic. A chance to work for someone of his caliber, to see other planets, and to avenge Eal. It was exactly what they needed.

--------

Nineteen: Alwas

Koji did a double take. But on his second look, the figures were gone. This week was going hay-wire on his nerves. The Arrow One crashed, taking Rick Thunderbolt's ability to race with it, the stowaway turned into their new pliot and was taking way too many risks, practically leaving the Arrow Two in shreds after each race, and on top of all this, he could have _sworn_ he just saw Eal over there with some blond teen.

Stan wrapped an arm around his shoulders in a seemingly platonic gesture. "You okay, Koji?"

"I..." Koji shook his head to clear it. "I think this week's been a little rough."

"On you and me both." Stan said with a sigh. "Come on, love, let's go back to the hanger."

The two of them walked back until Koji, thinking hard, stopped. "You just called me 'love'."

Stan stopped abruptly. "I did?" He looked back to see Koji. Koji nodded. "Oh boy..." Stan started walking back to him, having gotten a few feet farther. "Well..." He looked away for a moment and then looked back, smiling shyly. "I love you, Koji. I have for a while. Sorry." He turned back, embarrassed, and continued heading to the hanger.

Koji stared after him, frozen to the spot in shock.

Someone put their hand on his shoulder. "Hey."

He turned around. It was the man who looked like Eal!

"Go after him," Eal's look alike said. "Don't you feel the same?"

Koji nodded, dumbstruck. "Eal?"

The look alike blinked. "Noooo. Sorry, man." He shoved Koji in the hanger's direction. "Go and tell him you love him too!"

Koji nodded again and ran after Stan.

The blond boy walked up to the look alike. "Why'd you do that?"

"Plain and simple? They deserve each other." He smiled and the two of them walked back into the crowd.

-

"Stan! STAN!"

Stan stopped and let Koji catch up to him. He gulped, guessing that Koji was going to yell and scream and shout and never want to see him again but they had to work together anyway and--

"I love you too, Stan!"

Stan turned around and Koji ran into him, wrapping him in a hug. "Y-you do?"

Koji nodded. And, as if some other force was controlling their actions, they brought their lips together. It was over shortly, but they smiled at each other and started kissing again.

"Boys...Get a room."

The new couple jumped apart and stared at Don Wei, who smirked and kept on walking.

"That man must be a unfeeling _robot_ to interrupt us," Stan commented.

Koji nodded and brought their lips together again.

--------

Nineteen: Oban

Stan and Koji stood side by side, looking over the now green and fertile plains of Oban. Stan had an arm around Koji's shoulders and Koji had an arm around his waist.

"Stan?"

"Hmm?"

"Think Eal would be proud?"

Stan smiled down at everyone as the egg-like ship picked them up in its tractor beam first. "I think he would."

Koji looked down and saw Molly, no, Eva blow a kiss out over the fields. "We won. So how come it's so..."

"Hollow? 'Cause we lost Jordan."

Koji nodded and kissed Stan on the cheek. "We'll all miss him."

They returned to Earth a few days later. They went back to work for Miguel, who greeted them with open arms. He asked them about the matter Don Wei had taken them for, but they had been sworn to not tell anyone who hadn't been there.

Life settled back into an old, yet somewhat new, routine rather quickly.

--------

Twenty-Nine

"Stan! Koji!"

Stan waved at Eva and picked up his pace. "Hey everyone!"

Koji got there a minute later, a three year old girl holding his hand. "Hey!" The group stared at the toddler. "Oh! Did we forget to introduce you to Ella?" He picked up Ella, who smiled at the group.

Stan smirked. "She's our daughter." At their confused look, he added that she was adopted.

The ten-year reunion of the crew of the Great Race was a great chance to see all the people who had been with them during that long journey. Although, they all felt it was incomplete without their gunner and had a minute of silence in his honor.

Everyone had been very supportive of Stan and Koji's wedding and of their adopted child. They were a real family now.

Over the years, they lost a friend. But gained two families. The Earth Team was one and the other was the one they created between the three of them.

Amazing what can happen in twenty five years, isn't it?

* * *

Glad to be back with these guys! Hope everyone liked it and if you could spend a minute and send me a review, I'd be very grateful! 


End file.
